Happy Birthday, Mom/Grandma!

Memorial Day Weekend and Mom's birthday were the first holidays without Dad.  Mom's birthday fell on Memorial Day this year so we grilled hamburgers to celebrate.  Beth, Ty, Peg, Jon and Jake were there as well as me and the girls.  There were some quiet moments and some memories about Dad, but we even sang Happy Birthday to Mom in our usual tradition.

After eating, Maggie found our conversation boring (like she usually does) and without complaining brought out a game for us to play together.  She politely asked us to play and then got into the game.  She declared to Aunt Beth that she wasn't going to complain because it wasn't worth the consequences.  Beth responded, "Good!"  Later that night, I told Maggie that I was proud of how she handled herself and she said she knew Aunt Beth was proud also because she told her so.  I love seeing my children grow into people I enjoy spending time with!

 

Ice Cream in a Baggie

To celebrate the end of school, we made homemade ice cream in a baggie.  We had a melted mess of ice water on the counter, but the ice cream tasted good to eat while we watched a movie!  The girls had fun making their own bag of ice cream but weren't too sure about the work that went into it compared to when I use the electric ice cream maker!

 

Final Band Concert

Philomena's final band concert of the year is traditionally held on the front lawn.  The weather held out for the concert.  The storms went north of Lincoln and we had beautiful temperatures.  Mom and I commented that it was our favorite concert all year.  So relaxing to enjoy good music while sitting outside in our lawn chairs!  I thought next year we might even enjoy a picnic while they played!

 

Fingernail in Maggie's Ear ?!?

I came out of an IEP meeting to find this note from the office.  I laughed so hard.  Like, really?! A fingernail in her ear?!  Life is always interesting with Maggie.  I called Jean, the Health Tech at Mickle.  She has known Maggie for almost 2 years now and can appreciate my daughter's uniqueness.  She said she couldn't see anything in her ear but Maggie insisted there was a fingernail in her ear.  We laughed together and I said I would keep an eye on it.

It was a dad week, but I was picking up the girls so they could go with me to Huntington night at the Children's Zoo.  Maggie told me she was scratching her ear and the fingernail broke off.  I was finding it hard to believe but reassured her that Jean, the health tech, didn't see anything so it was probably just a scratch.  Friday, I sent her to school and back to her dad's house for the weekend.

Sunday, the girls came home and Maggie was complaining that her ear hurt and she was congested.  I took her to urgent care to be looked at.  The PA said it wasn't a bacterial sinus infection so she wouldn't give her any medicine, but there was a fingernail in her ear.  Maggie jumped every time the nurse or doctor tried to get it out.  The doctor didn't want to risk hurting her ear worse and was going to send us to an ENT to have it removed.  I talked to Maggie about how she needed to hold still.  The PA then talked her way through removing it so Maggie knew when and what to expect.  She pulled the chunk of fingernail out of her ear.  Maggie started feeling better pretty quickly.

On the way home, Maggie asked if I wanted to know how it really happened.  I said yes.  She said that she ripped the nail off her right hand and then when her left ear started itching due to allergies, she decided to scratch the inside of the ear using the nail that she'd just ripped off.  While scratching, she lost hold the fingernail and it fell into her ear.  My response was, "You did this on purpose?!" and I busted out laughing.  To which she replied, "Ya, that's why I didn't want to tell you."  I composed myself enough to ask, "Well, are you ever going to do that again?!"  Then Maggie says, "probably not."  I laughed harder but got out, "Probably??? Your answer should be NO NEVER!  You need to learn from your mistakes!" The conversation just got better when she declared, "Well, Mom, I'm not perfect and I can't guarantee that I'd NEVER do something."  My laughter was starting to be mixed with exasperation when I replied, "You need to learn from this situation."  She ended with, "I learned that's not a good idea."  OK, I can live with that!  This child is so interesting to raise!

 

Eating out of my Hand

Philomena has been working with Desdemona to teach her to eat out of her hand.  Desdemona is becoming calmer with the extra handling.  Since Coco died, she's gotten everyone's attention.  I was worried about her being alone, but I think we're going to stick with one for awhile.  Losing two guinea pigs back to back has been hard on everyone.  Especially with the guinea pigs' deaths being around the same time as losing my Dad.  We all need time to just grieve and adjust.

 

Mickle Music Tour

Maggie is in choir at Mickle.  The choir, jazz band, and orchestra tour the elementaries that feed into Mickle in May every year to show kids what they can do with music.  I was able to be a parent driver one year for Philomena and was able to get off work this year to be a parent driver for Maggie. With Philomena's group, I had 5 kids in my car.  This year, I told Mr. Stump that I could only fit 3 kids in my car so that way I'd be less stressed with keeping track of my kids at the mall for lunch.  He actually only gave me one other student and I knew her from when Philomena had events.  She's actually in the grade between my girls and such a polite girl that it was easy for me to be responsible for her.  Maggie sang as well as she could with the allergies/cold she had going on.  The best song was when they did a Taylor Swift song and everyone was enjoying themselves.  This year they added a stop at an assisted living facility which actually had a stage and screen behind them projecting the school logo.  I think fun was had by all!

 

Huntington Night at the Children's Zoo

The girls and I had fun touring the zoo and seeing which of our families from preschool were there.  My co-teacher, Christina, met up with us and walked around with us for part of the zoo.  Maggie really liked the penguins.  Philomena's favorite was feeding the giraffes but I was talking with a family and missed getting a picture.  I was amazed at how close to me the peacock came.

 

LHS Choir Concert

The high school choir concert is so amazing to listen to.  There's multiple choirs that sing their own pieces and everyone sings together for some songs as well.  The teachers really bring the best out in these kids.  Mom and I really enjoyed her concert!

 

St. Mark's UMC

The girls have really enjoyed the St. Mark's Youth Group.  This has been a good move for our family.  Philomena is also helping with tech during the 10:30 am service on Sundays.  She's controlled both cameras and lights as needed each Sunday.

 

Easter Eggs

We didn't get eggs dyed for Easter like we normally would so when we had a free afternoon the girls dyed eggs even though the holiday had passed.  Better late than never for this fun activity!